Month: April 2021

The Springfield City Charter wants new Council members sworn in within a week.

Section 13.7 of the Charter says that “Unless otherwise provided for by law, the council shall canvass the election returns and declare the results of any municipal election regular or special, at a meeting to be held not later than one week following such election.”

While it seems like it would be a simple issue, the first six words of that section cause a major conflict between the City of Springfield’s Charter and state law. Changes to state law have made Section 13.7 essentially unenforceable as written.

City Clerk Anita Cotter acknowledged to KWTO the difficulty that residents could have in not knowing the state laws that override the city’s charter in this case.

Cotter referred KWTO to Section 115.507 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, which states verification and certification bodies have until the “second Tuesday after any election” to certify returns for “each political subdivision and special district submitting a candidate or question at the election.” Cotter said that the city’s charter rule would apply from one week after the city officially received certified results from Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller, because they would not have “election returns” that could be “canvassed.”

Schoeller is prohibited by the state from certifying election results before the Friday after election day by RSMo 115.508. Schoeller has stated after multiple elections that additional time allows for overseas and military ballots to be received by his office.

Schoeller told KWTO that the city did not receive their certified results in the mail until Tuesday, April 13, which means the upcoming regularly scheduled Council meeting on Monday is within a one week period of notification. Schoeller added that the city “likely” received an email copy of the results on Monday night.

Cotter said that Council has been aware of the conflict with the city charter and state law for a long time, but that Council cannot unilaterally change the charter. A Charter change requires a vote of the public.

College of the Ozarks has filed suit in federal court against the Biden Administration’s order that people be allowed to use facilities of a declared gender rather than biological gender.

The executive order is being executed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which says entities covered by the Fair Housing Act cannot “discriminate” based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“The government cannot and should not force schools to open girls’ dorms to males based on its politically motivated and inappropriate redefinition of ‘sex,’” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake, who will represent the school, said in a statement. “Women shouldn’t be forced to share private spaces—including showers and dorm rooms—with males, and religious schools shouldn’t be punished simply because of their beliefs about marriage and biological sex. Government overreach by the Biden administration continues to victimize women, girls, and people of faith by gutting their legal protections, and it must be stopped.”

College of the Ozarks said in a press statement that they hold to the Christian belief that biological sex is not changeable, and that it operates dorms under that belief system. The College says their “sincerely held religious beliefs” influence all policies, such as prohibiting males from living in female dorms.

“Religious freedom is under attack in America, and we won’t stand on the sidelines and watch,” College of the Ozarks President, Dr. Jerry C. Davis, said in a statement. “To threaten religious freedom is to threaten America itself. College of the Ozarks will not allow politicians to erode this essential American right or the ideals that shaped America’s founding.”

The school’s suit opposes the HUD directive and states that the historical judicial interpretation of the Fair Housing Act has defined “sex” as biological sex. The suit also says the order violates the school’s Constitutional right to operate in a manner consistent with their religious beliefs.

The School of the Ozarks, Inc. d/b/a College of the Ozarks v. Biden has been filed in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri, Southern Division.

It’s been temporarily closed since October, but the movies will be starting up again in less than two weeks at Springfield’s Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

The theater will re-open its doors on Wednesday, April 28th and will screen new films such as
“Demon Slayer: The Movie” and “Street Gang.”

You’ll also be able to watch contemporary classics on the big screen, such as the “Lord of the Rings” and “Dazed and Confused,” along with family friendly flicks like “Hotel Transylvania Cereal Party.”

The managing partner of Springfield Ventures, Marc Evans, says in a news release “we have missed the Springfield community tremendously, and we’re looking forward to getting back to what we love to do, bringing guests the best film, food and drinks all in one seat.”

Movie-goers will sill be asked to maintain six feet of physical distancing and be required to wear a mask unless they’re eating or drinking.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema will be opening with a reduced menu, focused on Alamo favorites.

A Springfield man will spend a decade behind bars after being sentenced on charges connected to his trading child pornography online.

Erik Finster, 44, was sentenced to a decade in prison followed by 10 years of post-release supervision. Finster had pleaded guilty to charges related to receiving and distributing child pornography.

Finster became the subject of an investigation after a tip in 2019 from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Court documents say that secretly taken photos of a child in her underwear and posted online which were tracked to Finster.

Finster also participated in discussions online about sexually abusing children.

Prosecutors had asked for 15 years in prison.

Get ready to go mask free in Branson.

After swearing in former alderman Larry Milton as the city’s new mayor, and the swearing in of three new aldermen who ran with getting rid of the mask mandate as major parts of their campaigns, the newly constituted board of aldermen voted to remove the mask mandate.

The mandate will be officially removed at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, April 16 on a unanimous vote.

The vote came during the first in-person meeting at Branson City Hall since December 2020.

Mayor Milton defeated incumbent Mayor Edd Akers on April 6 by a significant margin. He took the oath of office Tuesday along with new alderman Clay Cooper, Cody Fenton, and Ruth Denham. The last time three aldermen and the mayor were replaced in the same election was 2007.

The new Mayor and aldermen spoke in the meeting about the community coming back together after a divisive issue.

“While we will not all agree on some things, I will encourage respect for each other,” Mayor Milton said. “This Board of Aldermen is in one boat and when we can all row in the same direction, we can do good thing. When we add the community into our boat, and we all row in the same direction, we can do great things. I am so excited to be your mayor and to help take Branson to the next level.”

Cooper directly addressed the issue of the mask mandate and his choosing to run for office in his closing comments for the meeting.

“I was told I was a one issue candidate,” Cooper said. “All I cared about was the mask mandate and that is the furthest thing from the truth. Is that what got me fired up and inspired me to run? Absolutely, but like I said, I’ve been living here 35 years, I’ve raised my kids, they’re in public school here, my wife and I own a business on the strip and we have 90 employees. That might have been the first annexation I’ve ever voted on, but I’m here to learn. I can see numbers, and see if you’re bringing in more money than you’re spending, that’s a good thing.”

Mayor Milton also saluted the voters who turned out for the election, with Branson’s total percentage of voters coming to the polls far ahead of neighboring communities.

“The voter turnout in the city of Branson, I take my hat off, 25 percent voter turnout,” Mayor Milton said.

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department announced Tuesday afternoon they would be pausing all use of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.

SGCHD officials said the move was being made “out of an abundance of caution” and stated multiple times during on online press conference that none of the reported incidents of blood clots took place in Greene County.

“Approximately 7,000 people in Greene County have received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine since its approval by the FDA, including including more than 6,100 during our mega vaccination clinic,” Cara Erwin, Community Wellness Coordinator at the SGCHD, said during the press event. “There have been no cases reported to the Health Department locally of blood clotting from anyone who received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.”

Dr. Nancy Yoon, SGCHD Chief Medical Officer, noted the very low risk of the clotting issue, with 6 out of 6.8 million doses injected meaning there is approximately a 0.000000882% of Johnson and Johnson patients who have experienced blood clots. By comparison, the National Transportation Safety Board states the odds of dying in a plane crash at a much higher 0.0000053%.

Dr. Yoon also addressed side effects of the vaccines, stating some mild side effects are to be expected by anyone who received the vaccine, but they shouldn’t contact their healthcare providers unless the reaction is severely atypical or lasts longer than a week.

Jon Mooney of the SGCHD said during the web conference that the withdrawal of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is unlikely to have much impact on the county’s vaccination efforts because of the increase in availability of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. SGCHD Acting Director Katie Towns told KWTO their planned remote vaccination clinic efforts that were going to use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will now use the other two vaccines.

A letter or email will be sent from the SGCHD to those who were vaccinated at the mega vaccine event at Missouri State last week with more information.

The SGCHD is also providing updated information about vaccines on the Vaccine 417 web page.

Springfield Mayor Ken McClure has issued renewal number nine of the Proclamation of Civil Emergency for the city.

McClure refers to the extension as a housekeeping item in order to ensure the city has needed flexibility in the coming weeks during coronavirus pandemic.

McClure says if needed, this authorizes the mayor to exercise his emergency powers as outlined in the city charter.

The renewal of the proclamation of civil emergency should not be confused with the city’s masking, social distancing and occupancy restrictions, which were extended in the city limits until April 16th.

McClure says he doesn’t believe it’s necessary to exercise the additional powers granted to him at this time.

A Springfield area mail carrier is in the Greene County Jail, accused in the sexual assault of an elderly woman on his delivery route.

Mark Poag, 59, was charged with first-degree sodomy or attempted sodomy in the incident. A warrant is out for his arrest and as of Monday night he had not yet been brought into custody.

According to the probable cause statement, Poag had been delivering the victim’s mail and had interacted with her on multiple occasions prior to the incident. Then the victim’s doctor wrote a note asking for her mail to be brought to her door rather than forcing her to walk to a mailbox along the street.

The victim then began allowing Poag to enter through her garage door to deliver the mail. On the day of the assault, Poag took off his boots to enter the home and deliver the mail because of snow and slush on the ground. The victim thought Poag was leaving her home to put his boots back on and leave, so the victim went to her bedroom. Poag allegedly followed and attacked the victim in her bedroom.

Springfield police investigators worked with the USPS Postal Inspector to track Poag’s movements through GPS. On the day of the assault, Poag was at the victim’s residence for 18 minutes, which a postal inspector told police there was no reason for a mailman to be at a residence that long.

The victim says they’re now afraid to stay in the home where they lived for 20 years and moved to avoid the possibility Poag would show at her home. Poag had also mentioned a concert the victim planned to attend in August and the victim is worried he would show up at that event to confront her.

OI reached out to the U.S. Postal Service for comment and Postal Inspector Paul Shade said he could not directly comment because of the Privacy Act, but that standard procedure for the USPS in these situations is to place the employee on a “non-duty status pending the outcome [of] an investigation.”

He noted that the Postal Inspection Service and the Springfield PD were conducting a joint investigation.

If convicted of the charge, Poag could face life in prison.

An Oklahoma man will spend four years in prison after being convicted and sentenced in the strangulation of a Springfield woman in a domestic assault case.

Drew Curtis Scott, 33, was sentenced Monday after being convicted on January 6, 2021, in a bench trial. Scott was found guilty of strangling his roommate, with whom he had a previous intimate relationship.

Judge Becky Borthwick sentenced Scott to four years in prison on the conviction for domestic assault in the second degree. Borthwick also denied probation. The state had asked for a seven year sentence and defense lawyers argued for a two year sentence.

Prosecutors showed that Scott was heavily intoxicated when he strangled the victim because she would not give him the keys to her car. When police arrived after the assault, they found visible marks on the victim’s neck.

Scott had previous convictions in Oklahoma for domestic assault.

Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson said in a statement that anyone in the county who is experiencing domestic violence should contact the Family Justice Center at 874-2600 or by calling the Harmony House/Victim Center’s 24-hour Saafe Line at 864-SAFE (7233) or call 911.